Qualifying one team for the state cross-country meet is an impressive accomplishment.
Three area schools took that one step further this year by sending both its girls and boys team to compete on the big stage Saturday at Cabell Midland High School.
The trio of area schools that qualified both teams for the big run was Woodrow Wilson (AAA), Shady Spring (AA) and James Monroe (A).
Heading into the regional meet, Woodrow Wilson and Shady Spring were strong favorites to send both teams to Ona Saturday.
James Monroe definitely had the talent, but was really not considered a favorite so to speak.
What the Mavericks did at Coonskin Park in Charleston, however, was make history. Never before had a team from James Monroe High School qualified for the state meet.
Now they have two.
“We have had four individuals qualify before, but we have never had a full team,” head coach Lorrie Broyles said. “The girls team was more of a certainty than the boys. We knew the boys would be a close call. When they were coming across the finish line, we were adding up points and knew they qualified. We were pretty excited.”
Senior Katie Collins won the 2023 Coalfield Conference girls race at Twin Falls State Park and qualified for the state meet last year.
This year Collins had some help.
“Abby Dixon ran at Greenbrier East previously, so she was familiar with it. Gracie Tooze did track, but this was her first year with cross-country. She just killed it and she also did soccer, dividing her time between the two,” Broyles said. “Kynzie Taylor is just like a speed-rocket. If she sticks with it, she will be up near the top soon.”
With four strong runners, the Mavericks still needed a fifth runner to field a full team. Natalie Broyles and Kinleigh Bradley stepped in to fill the void.
“Natalie is not the natural runner like the others. She was the only auxiliary for the band all season,” Broyles explained. “Kinleigh played golf and is the drum major for the band. They came in to help us have enough for a full team.”
Not only was their sacrifice a huge key for the Mavericks success in cross country, Broyles and Bradley have been highly successful in other areas this fall.
“Natalie placed first for auxiliary in every band competition this year. She choreographed her own performance and was on her own against AAA dance teams,” coach Broyles said. “Kinleigh participated in three fall sports. In golf she was the only Class A female to qualify to compete at the Coalfield Conference Tournament.”
Making the day even brighter for the Lady Mavs was the fact that they tied Charleston Catholic who was a heavy favorite to win the Class A Region 3 meet. The Irish edged James Monroe by three points when the scores of the sixth runners were used to break the tie.
“We didn’t find out until after the meet because they didn’t announce the points, but we had actually tied Charleston Catholic. That was also exciting,” Broyles said.
Wyatt Lilly and Eli Broyles ran last year and both finished inside the top-10 at the regional meet. Lilly qualified for the state meet as an individual in 2022.
“Wyatt and Eli had been running all summer wanting to increase their times and they have,” Broyles said. “Wyatt has increased his times by over a minute, while Eli has increased his time at several meets by over three minutes from last year. They have really put in the time.”
William Jackson battled an early season injury and bounced back to be the third fastest Maverick finishing 10th overall at regionals.
“William ran track and did mostly sprints. He had a hip injury right as the season started and was out for several weeks this season to recover from that,” Broyles explained. “He is still improving at every meet because his endurance is still building. If he had been here all season, he would be challenging Wyatt for the top spot.”
Bryceson Whitt and Shane Arthur were both among the top-15 scoring runners to help send the Mavericks to Cabell County.
“Bryceson did distance in track and wanted to try something different his senior year. He came out this year and has been steadily improving,” Broyles said. “Shane was a soccer player and he stepped up to help the team. He also had a good time.”
The key to the historic day was the fact that James Monroe, as a team, put its best foot forward at the most important meet of the season to that point.
“Every runner was beating their time. We ran in Charleston in mid-September at their regular season meet and every runner that was there beat their times at regionals,” Broyles said. “Several of them beat their times by over a minute. They really wanted it.”
Now the Mavericks head to Cabell Midland to battle an extremely talented field at the Class A meet.
“Wyatt and Katie qualified as individuals last year. Eli went up to support them, so some of them have seen the course,” Broyles said. “We know the northern teams are really fast. Our main goal is to get the best run they have had and for our underclassmen to set some goals for next year.”
Broyles is also hoping that the team’s historic success can lead to more runners competing next year.
“I hope so. We started a middle school team at Peterstown last year. We have two upcoming freshman that are pretty quick and have earned medals at every middle school race,” Broyles said. “Our boys will be pretty good next year, but we will have to find some more girls to replace Katie and Abby.”
The Class A girls race will start at 9 a.m. Saturday with the boys hitting the trail at 9:45 a.m.